60 WATER HIDDEN. 



the Bangwaketze chiefs, more wily than the rest, sent false guides 

 to lead them on a track where, for hundreds of miles, not a drop 

 of water could he found, and they perished in consequence. Many 

 Bakwains perished too. Their old men, who could have told us 

 ancient stories, perished in these flights. An intelligent Mokwain 

 related to me how the Bushmen effectually balked a party of his 

 tribe which lighted on their village in a state of burning thirst. 

 Believing, as he said, that nothing human could subsist without 

 water, they demanded some, but were coolly told by these Bush- 

 men that they had none, and never drank any. Expecting to find 

 them out, they resolved to watch them night and day. They per- 

 severed for some days, thinking that at last the water must come 

 forth ; but, notwithstanding their watchfulness, kept alive by most 

 tormenting thirst, the Bakwains were compelled to exclaim, "Yak! 

 yak ! these are not men ; let us go." Probably the Bushmen had 

 been subsisting on a store hidden under ground, which had eluded 

 the vigilance of their visitors. 



